


Not Quite a Square Dance

by MaskedMildew



Category: Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Genre: Aliens, Ambiguous Relationships, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-07 17:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16412858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaskedMildew/pseuds/MaskedMildew
Summary: There isn't much to do on the Equinox when the rest of the Starlink Initiative are out.Thankfully, the two big ol' aliens that were left behind to man the ship know how to come-up with something fun for them both to do.





	Not Quite a Square Dance

**Author's Note:**

> I never realized I'd end-up loving the idea of Eli and Kharl being bros/maybe alien partners?? 
> 
> Whatever. They're both cute. I wanted to write them dancing.

Tap tap tap.

_Click_.

"Sage, bring up the recent weather reports for Kirite... again."

That was the _eighth_ time that Drackan asked the ship to check some planet's weather, and the second time he asked for Kirite's weather, specifically. 

Eli supposed that pure, unadulterated **_boredom_ ** could drive people to do plenty of things, but how was he supposed to get any shut-eye like this?

He was sitting reclined in his chair, head down and his boots up on one of the holotables. He was sure Kharl or someone had tried to scold him on not doing that at one point, but they probably gave-up, seeing as he wasn't going to be moving any time soon. Yes, when he wanted a nap, the Bion was rooted to the spot. **Usually**. 

Eli lifted his head, squinting and blinking a few times to get his eyes adjusted to the light. In front of him, Kharl paced-around the central computer, listening to the same information he'd heard before. He hadn't realized Eli as watching him, so when Eli slowly stood out of his chair and went to stand at his side, he yelped upon turning to see the Bion. 

Eli tilted his head back-- he'd be grinning, if he had the ability to do so. "Oh, you shouldn't sneak-up on me like that!" Kharl huffed, one of his hands still on his chest while the other was pressed against the computer, leaning against it for support. "W-weren't you sleeping, anyway?" The scientist looked to the side, and then back to Eli with a considerably-more-apologetic voice, "Oh, I didn't wake you, did I? My apologies. I just--"

"Have no idea what to do on this ship for the next hour-or-so?" Eli chimed-in, placing his hands on his belt (the go-to idle position, for him.) 

Kharl's toothy mouth widened into a bit of an embarrassed smile, and he nodded, "Heh, that's about right! How'd you know...?"

"I've been on this ship with ya' for two hours."

"Oh! R-right! Right..."

Neither of them had anything to say after that. Kharl, despite how large he was, felt small under Eli's scrutiny. His scaled fingers interlocked, and he looked to the computer as if studying what was on it, in an attempt to find anything else to do. Eli wasn't gonna let him off that easily. 

"Y'ever dance?" 

"Pardon?"

"Dance. Ya' done it before? Don't Drackans have somethin'?" 

"Oh... well, yes! But... I was never very good at it, and I'm not sure what  _we_ consider a dance is the same for... ahem, other species." Kharl chuckled, using a hand to adjust his eyepiece. "Why bring it up?" 

The prospector shrugged his shoulders and rolled them back, limbering them up. He nodded his head to the computer, "Sometimes I see a few of the humans dancin' around here, and ya' can usually hear Razor's music no matter where you go. Thought I'd like ta'... give it a try." As if it were listening, a music app was pulled-up onto the computer's screen. "Thanks, Sage." Eli muttered in response.

Kharl sputtered, looking between the Bion before him and the list of music tracks that had covered-up the weather reports he'd been looking at before. "You-- you want to dance with  _me?_ No, no, certainly not!" The Drackan's hand waved dismissively,  laughing nervously, "I've got two left feet, Eli! A-and, I'm not quite certain we'd... well, I mean... do  _you_ know how to dance?"

In response, Eli huffed a laugh. "You tryin' to say something, huh?" The Expeditionist was left to quietly attempt to apologize while Eli turned to the screen, squinting at the selection of tunes. None of them made any sense to him, so the old gunslinger decided he'd pass the reins to Sage. "Well... you know what t' do, Sage. _C'mon_ , Doctor Zeon." Kharl didn't have time to react much before Eli took his large hand and led the reluctant Drackan a short bit away from the computer. 

A song came on, playing from the speakers all around the room (which were definitely not _meant_ for music, but that's what they ended-up being used for quite often anyway) and the two aliens locked eyes. It was in that moment that they both knew... they both had no idea where to go from here.

Just as Kharl felt ready to break-away, laugh and forget about this little exchange, Eli gave a shrug. "Here goes nothin'. Work with me." Sage chose a good song. It had an easy tune to pick-up on, and Eli soon found his boot tapping-along and his head shaking gently from side-to-side (which was just a natural dance for Bions. This fact managed to interest Kharl very much). He attempted to pull Kharl closer, but because of the large weight-difference, Eli just managed pulling himself beside the reptile, instead. It didn't matter, the result would be the same either way!

Without missing a beat, Eli took-up Kharl's empty hand, and the Drackan (not wanting to be rude) began to shuffle stiffly back and forth in time with Eli's nearly just-as-awkward steps back and forth and to the side. 

It was painful and slow, but the two were at least dancing together; but it didn't take long before the duo started to get more comfortable, and had more fun with it. The first song couldn't even end before the two were laughing, elatedly, with one-another. After a few tracks, one or both of the aliens would hum or mutter alongside the lyrics in the song, and eventually they both got to the point where they'd sing choruses together, if they could. (If one of them stumbled on a line or in the dance, the other might chuckle good-naturedly or correct them.)

Their dancing started to grow more and become it's own thing, as well. There may have been a point where Eli lead Kharl into something that could be called 'not-quite-a-square-dance', and I think there may have even been a moment where Kharl lifted Eli into the air with virtually no trouble. 

Time had completely slipped the pair's mind. They were in the middle of too good a moment, just glad to be doing something that could take their minds off of The Legion and fighting and standing around for hours on end. 

Now,  _normally_ , Sage would make an alert when someone or multiple people board the Equinox or approach a room someone else is currently in, but suspiciously, she'd been completely silent even as four members of the Starlink crew walked through the doors of the surveillance bay. All of them stopped in their tracks, once they saw a totally-out-of-breath Eli with his arm slung around a tuckered-out Kharl's neck. 

Everything in the room was still, and tense with confusion (and embarrassment, if you were either of the dancing duo).

The only one who didn't seem affected was, predictably, Judge, who floated-off towards the computer to shut the music off manually. 

Levi, standing behind Fern, was the first to make a move. He laughed loudly, nearly doubling-over, and one could just  _tell_ he wanted to take a picture of this to post online. 

"Th-that's great!" He gave a little grunt as Razor gave him a nudge with her elbow, and he wiped a tear away. "Look'it these _grandpas!_ They were having a whole party here, without us! Ah, _man_." He let them off the hook, though, once he jogged-off around the outside of the room to get to another, smaller computer to grab a phone he'd left on the dashboard.

Still in the doorway was Fern and Razor, the two of them trying not to grin, and failing miserably.

"Well, would you look at that?" Razor piped-up, her arms crossing, "We managed to make Eli so bored he couldn't even sleep it off. Hah." Said Bion had slowly removed his arm from Kharl, patting his shoulder before straightening-up, as if to preserve some dignity. Razor didn't seem too keen on pressing, however.

Fern still stood, staring at the two.

Kharl and Eli both cleared their throats, as if to spur the younger Bion into any sort of action. She seemed to light-up, walking to Kharl's side and giving him a reassuring pat, as well. "Hey, I think it's cute! Nice to see the both of you not all serious, eh?" She had to lean forward to peer around Kharl and catch Eli's attention, "Good music, too!" 

"Ah... Sage chose it." Eli muttered, vaguelly gesturing with his hand towards the computer. 

"Oh! Well, Sage has very good taste." 

From beside the main computer, Judge spoke: "We have found it." Every head in the room turned to them, and Kharl slowly began stepping away from Eli to stand before the computer, as well. He squinted at the screen. "What have you found, Judge?"

"The file that holds all of the recorded security footage from the last five hours."

Kharl nearly smashed the computer in two, right then and there.


End file.
